Enabling and Managing Social Learning
When taking face-to-face classes with an instructor, there is the formal training time, during which participants attend the instructor’s lecture. Then there is the informal learning that occurs during casual discussions, group work, while reading a book or an article recommended by someone else, or just when hanging out with your classmates. Some research even suggests that we retain more information from informal discussions and interactions than from traditional learning.
Teachers know how to take advantage of our natural desire for social interaction to facilitate learning and increase retention, as evidenced by the repeated use of pedagogical techniques such as group work, peer review, or presentations.
At first glance, one might think that distance learning complicates or even prevents these social and informal interactions. But this is without counting on the insatiable need for social contact (as well as the ingenuity) of mankind...